La traversée du phare

A film intended for TV, but with deep insights of some facts of life we should regard as... well, difficult to say, but I'd say... contrasting. Two kids about ten years old meet within a very peculiar framework: both come from broken families and are in care of foster homes... whatever that is! The film is not especially good in production. It's more of an amateur film, but, nonetheless it's a very convincing story that sandwiches tons of strong realities of our times in 93 minutes.

Thierry Riedler produces and directs the film with his son as the main character. Well done, as I said, if you're not expecting a fully produced film. Indie, bad effects, but a story that will stick with you for a long time. In the end, that's what films are about: stories well told!

I am puzzled by the casting of Katty Loisel in this film. Is she supposed to be a boy all through the film? Some way into the film, Yann seemed to change sex and was wearing a skirt. In the scene, the person I assume was supposed to be Marie takes off the skirt, hands it to one of the two people standing next to her, and walks off looking like a boy again. What is going on here? The film is in french and doesn't have sub-titles. For a person who doesn't speak fluent French, it is rather awkward. Some words I can translate, but not all of them. Can someone please explain whether this is supposed to be a girlish boy, a boyish girl or something else?

If I could only watch one more film in my life it would be this one. The principle character (and early narrator) Eric is an orphan, unwanted and forgotten who meets Yann at his new school on his first day having been moved from yet another foster home. They embark with childish recklessness to visit the nearby lighthouse on foot: they are lucky; the lighthouse keeper sees them and in a way "saves" them. The film is full of poetic symbolism in many ways: the lighthouse is tantalisingly just out of reach (it's surrounded by the sea) and represents safety and security, the very thing both children crave. Although Yann lives with her aunt and is therefore not abandoned unlike Eric, she is also an outsider for being a tomboy: when Eric discovers that she is in fact a girl he accepts her unconditionally, unlike her teachers and pupils at school. She is later moved to an all girls school which she sees as a punishment. The link with the book "The little Prince" is clear inasmuch as she cannot understand adults. And she has a soulmate. There's also a sub-plot with her aunt and the lighthouse keeper which completes the film and makes it feel whole. Wonderful.